I've come around to it. A student that I used to work with couldn't quite say my first name and twisted it into Marnie, which sweetened me to it. It's still got strong Hitchcock associations for me so that increases its coolness.

"Don't try to be modern, it's the most old-fashioned thing there is," - Attilio, The Tiger and the Snow

I LOVEMarnie.
Singer LilyAllen just named her daughter Marnie I believe, so could become popular but its very cute as a nn!!!

I had to google LilyAllen and while I still don't know who she is, I like her DDs names (Ethel and Marnie).......I agree that it could spark an upswing in the name, but who knows. Hopefully it wouldn't get too popular, but it would only be a nickname, so not a huge deal. But it does turn me off from using it a little.......I just hate riding any "celeb baby name" wave, know what I mean?

LOVEMarnie. Like a pp said, the Hitchcock association makes it uber cool for me, but also the fact that a Girls character is called Marnie renders it more modern than it may have been before. Though I've never looked at Marnie and seen old lady. Ethel, yes, but Marnie is pretty spunky in my opinion.